Thursday, August 13, 2009



2009

SUMMER YOUTH WRITING CAMPS

WRITE FOR FUN AT OUR MORNING AND AFTERNOON CAMPS!

For more information, call 610-285-5231 or visit our Web site

New curriculum and programming every year!

Day 9 of Writing Camps -- Bethlehem, 8-13-09

Picture of the Day

THURSDAY

Enjoy the sun-kissed orange posts below for today's highlights!

Reader's Theatre -- Bethlehem

We are busily preparing for tomorrow's play! We had another dress rehearsal and finished creating our props. Also, we did some publicity writing.

Thank you for lending us items from home. We now have everything we need to shine tomorrow. Be prepared for DAZZLE!

Digital Storytelling -- Bethlehem

Today campers continued putting the finishing touches on their digital creations. They are really looking forward to sharing their work with their guests on Friday!

Creative Composers -- Bethlehem

In preparation of tomorrow's end-of-camp celebration (!), we entered the computer lab early today to finalize our pieces. We are looking forward to presenting to our guests tomorrow. We are ready!

Author Adventures -- Bethlehem

Today we finished our shape poems using alliteration. We went into the computer lab where we typed two stories for our camp's anthology. If I could fly... was our writing warmup for the day. Jared (who helped write this post) wrote that he would go to space for one hour, then the White House for two hours. The rest of the time, Jared could go anywhere he wants!

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

8th Day of Writing Camps -- Bethlehem, 8-12-09

Picture of the Day


WEDNESDAY


Please read the groovy green posts below for today's highlights!

Author Adventures -- Bethlehem

Our writing topic today was No Electricity. Campers discussed and wrote about life without today's conveniences--

I wouldn't have a Wii anymore! -- Jolade

We also practiced alliteration to use with our shape poems tomorrow.

Creative Composers -- Bethlehem

Today we explored sound and seasons. Before it got too hot, we went outside. We also listened to music. Why? To delve into characterization, of course! Kayla created a character named Derek, who snowboards in winter, skateboards in the fall, and bicycles in summer. That's one active, inspirational character!

Reader's Theatre -- Bethlehem

Today we enjoyed designing our invitations for Friday's play, "Sleeping Ugly." Our second rehearsal was performed. Derek has an incredible bird mask, but that's just one of many props/costumes that our group has brought in. Our instructor says that we "have certainly gone above and beyond in preparing for Friday's event!"

Digital Storytelling -- Bethlehem

We continued using Movie Maker. Today we finished our second (or third) movies and saved our creations to our flash drives. We worked on finding the right balance -- voice, music, and timing -- oh, my!

7th Day of Writing Camps -- Bethlehem, 8-11-09


Picture of the day

TUESDAY

Today was our seventh day of writing camps! Please check out the blazing posts below for today's highlights!

Reader's Theatre -- Bethlehem

Today we had our first rehearsal! Some of us even brought in costumes and props. We also continued writing in the computer lab.

We are looking forward to tomorrow when we can write and rehearse again.

Digital Storytelling -- Bethlehem

Today some of us started a new story, while others were putting the final touches on their first story. We looked at other digital stories and critiqued their choice of pictures, picture composition, choice of music or sounds and the volume.

Don't forget to RSVP for our film festival on Friday at 3 p.m. See you then!

Author Adventures -- Bethlehem

Today we explored the diamante poem, which is a poem in the shape of a diamond. We considered opposites when writing these:

  • Stephen compared Mom and Dad
  • Derek compared girls and boys
  • Jared compared soccer and baseball

We also explored a toolbox and started writing about how to use strange tools.

Monday, August 10, 2009

6th Day of Writing Camps -- Bethlehem, 8-10-09

Picture of the day
MONDAY
Enjoy today's panther pink posts below for today's highlights!

Digital Stories -- Bethlehem

Today we continued writing our stories -- some of us are recording, adding sound effects, and finalizing our creations. Some of us also enjoyed searching to find the longest words in the dictionary -- and then trying to say it!

Look for an invitation to come home today for family and friends to attend our film festival showcasing our digital stories this Friday.

Reader's Theatre -- Bethlehem

Today we explored characterization and performed various characterization activities. This was done in preparation of campers becoming their characters. We are so excited to learn that Sleeping Ugly is our play for Friday -- and to receive our parts. We had our first read-through today. Tomorrow we will do our first rehearsal.

Author Adventures -- Bethlehem

Today we explored pictures and how they could be used to write a story. We also drew detailed pictures and wrote stories to match them.

Creative Composers -- Bethlehem

Today we worked on poetry and explored tall tales before writing our own. Ms. Walker told her own tall tale and most campers believed every word of it! Actually, she stretched her true story a bit to turn it into a tall tale. Ruby did the same when she wrote her tall tale. It was about breaking her finger during a slumber party and how it resulted in a 30-day hospital stay.

We also wrote concrete poetry, putting our word strings into shapes according to what the poem was about.

Friday, August 7, 2009

5th Day of Writing Camps -- Bethlehem


Picture of the day

FRIDAY

Please read the ruby red posts below for today's highlights!
Enjoy the weekend!

Digital Stories -- Bethlehem

Campers worked on finding copyright-free music and sound effects for their stories. They viewed digital stories created by the Fogelsville campers in order to examine what they wanted to include within their own stories. Campers are finding that digital stories, like all good things, take time.

Reader's Theatre

Today we performed paper bag dramas and wrote scripts with a partner! We are really looking forward to Monday when we will be presented with our script and our parts!

Creative Composers -- Bethlehem

Campers got their creative juices flowing when looking at The Earth From Above by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. They used this great book to ponder photographs that could inspire their writing. For instance, campers described one particular photograph in the following ways:
• “it looks like green emeralds” -- Simon
• “it looks like big green splots you see when you’re up in the airplane" --Ruby

Wondering what it really was? A photograph, "Terraced Rice Fields in Indonesia.” Campers learned that the numerous lines within the photograph are actually irrigation systems that transport water within a field of the most important crop in Asia -- rice!

We also explored poetry with a focus on saying more with fewer words.

Author Adventures -- Bethlehem

Campers explored limericks and brainstormed rhyming words to help one another complete ending lines – not necessarily an easy task when you’re trying to find words to rhyme with words like monster or hockey. :)

Campers also wrote about “the biggest footprints I had ever seen…” Ahna’s story was about a flying horse that made a giant footprint. It flew up into the clouds and was never seen again!"

Great job, campers!

Drama Writers -- Southern Lehigh

Our writing camp began on a great note with all campers introducing themselves in the most creative ways...scrapbooks, poems, and even songs! Campers continue to practice their group skits from Aesop's Fables. What an improvement in only a few days! Theater games, improv, and script writing our fractured fairy tales will continue to take us into our second week of camp.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

4th Day of Writing Camps, 8/6 -- Bethlehem

Picture of the Day


THURSDAY

Check out the grassy green posts below for today's highlights!

Author Adventures -- Bethlehem

We created animals using Play-Doh and our imagination. We also wrote articles on our new animals to describe how they look, where they live, what they look eat, etc. Anna's animal was Pip, while Jared's was a platypus.

Creative Composers -- Bethlehem

Today we explored mystery. Each of us was given a mystery bag. We really enjoyed emptying the bags to see what was inside. Then, we wrote a mystery surrounding the objects, so our stories included things like bananas, popsicle sticks, a money clip, and more!

Reader's Theatre -- Bethlehem

Today we explored action dramas. In Jack and the Beanstalk, Brian acted as the giant, saying "Fee Fi Fo Fum!" Everyone had fun playing a part! We also enjoyed tongue twisters. Some of us made up our own.

Digital Storytelling -- Bethlehem

Today we went onto the Internet and continued finding pictures. We also finished writing our stories. We went onto Movie Maker and inserted the pictures into our movies. We even worked with special effects and the Audacity program to record our voices.

3rd Day of Writing Camps, 8/5 -- Bethlehem


Picture of the day

WEDNESDAY

Please check out the popping purple posts below for today's highlights!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Author Adventures --Bethlehem

We wrote about an important event or activitiy. Sean wrote about visiting Japan. We enjoyed a creative writing activity -- "What I saw out my bedroom window this morning." Graeme saw "it was raining pennies and I collected a trillion of them in a huge pot...but it was imaginary." Way to go, campers!

Creative Composers -- Bethlehem

We enjoyed going outside and taking the perspective of something small, such as a bird, ant, or flower. Kaitlyn was an ant, quite tiny against people and water falling. We also played charades, took guesses at what was being acted out, and then wrote about that. Great work, writers!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

2nd Day of Writing Camps, 8/4 -- Bethlehem

Picture of the Day

TUESDAY

Campers enjoyed many activities at our second day of writing camps. Read the tangerine-tinted posts for today's tantalizing highlights!

Digital Storytelling -- Bethlehem

Today we continued to write our own stories. We printed them out to look at the order of the story and how it unfolded for the reader. Some of us began searching for images that are labeled for reuse. Also, we each journaled about a trip that we have taken or a place that we would like to go.

Reader's Theatre -- Bethlehem

We explored alliteration as a way to warm up our vocal chords --
Dede devoured dozens of delicious donuts.

We also performed a vocalization puzzle -- Docked Hearse Whose (Say that a few times. Do you hear it?).

There were plenty of other theatre games to play today, such as Good Gossip and Shake-up. We also enjoyed working in the computer lab, continuing our monologues and beginning scripts!

Creative Composers -- Bethlehem

Today we continued writing stories about "shoes" and it was a lot of fun! We went outside to list things we saw, such as car, flowers, trees, and rocks. We added describing words, such as
  • red
  • little
  • tiny
  • "perfect size for me"

and many more. These kind of words strengthen our writing. Then, we did even more writing!

Author Adventures -- Bethlehem

Today we wrote a letter using someone that we included in our journal. In the computer lab, we performed a quick write using a fairytale of our choice, such as Jack and the Beanstalk or Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In our free writing time, we chose what we would write about. Devin created a superhero called "Masterhand." We are looking forward to tomorrow when we can write more!

Monday, August 3, 2009

First Day of Writing Camps, 8/3 -- Bethlehem


MONDAY

Today we enjoyed the first day of camps at Bethlehem! Please read the groovy green posts below for today's highlights!

Creative Composers--Bethlehem

On our first day, we got to know one another. We wrote a story -- the character had someone's first name and someone else's last name and then we added a hobby and a place. It was fun mixing up the names! Later, we picked a shoe to write how the shoe feels, smells, looks, etc. It was funny how everyone reacted differently to their shoe! It was also really fun talking and coming up with ideas and learning people's names.

This post was written with help from campers, Haley and Eric.

Author Adventures--Bethlehem

Today we explored bio-poems! We wrote one together about Spongebob before writing our own. Derek enjoyed writing a biopoem about his mom. Devin and Roshan wrote biopoems about themselves. We are looking forward to writing more tomorrow!

Reader's Theatre--Bethlehem

Today we enjoyed learning about one another. We each wrote a one-minute monologue about ourselves and created puppets to look like us. We then shared our monologues in front of our "puppet theatre," which you can see in our room. It was also fun playing theatre games!

Great job sharing your interests, most embarrassing moments, things you are most proud of, and more (like Haley's stage accents and Devin's breakdancing moves)!

Digital Storytelling-Bethlehem

Today we began writing stories! We discussed organization and what makes a good story and storyteller. We're looking forward to tomorrow when we may bring in pictures to match our stories.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Final Day of Writing Camps, Fogelsville, 7/31


We had a wonderful 2 weeks at Penn State Lehigh Valley Writing Camps! Our teachers were wonderful and some of us are planning on coming again next year in Center Valley. Everyone that was at Penn State Lehigh Valley Writing Camps has turned into a young author!

This post was written and posted by me, fellow reader's theatre camper, Lindsey I.

Write on, Lindsey! You and the rest of the campers have brought a great amount of joy to our campus each day! Enjoy the rest of your summer and keep writing! Of course, for those of you who are headed to our Bethlehem camps, we'll see you on Monday!

College-Bound

Today is the day we say good-bye to a great group of high school kids. They really rock! Great writers, one and all. We had fun these past two weeks with good discussions and good food provided by our personal bakers – Gab and Neha.

Have a great rest of the summer and an enjoyable school year, everyone!